"Something Sweet and Sugary and Nice"

I have been listening to just about every sermon lately from Leonard Ravenhill available on sermonaudio.com. He's harsh and blunt, occasionally sarcastic and abrasive....I think he's great. Not for those reasons but because he speaks with an incredible burden for genuine revival unlike anyone I hear today. I think he is right, that this is the only way there is any hope at all for our culture, and our churches today.

Here is a quote from his sermon Abraham and Lot:

"....Noah preaching righteousness, Enoch preaching Jesus Christ coming in judgement....who wants to hear it anymore in our churches? No, give us something sweet and sugary and nice. Something that won't hurt us, something that won't send us home weeping and broken. There's enough trouble in the world without going to church to get it."

I wish preachers like Ravenhill were around today. Men who are not afraid to deliver God's message without altering it to appease the crowd.

Ravenhill believes that revival will come only when preachers today are broken before the Lord weeping before the porch and the altar as in Joel chapter 2. It is worth listening to and stuggling with. Ravenhill's sermons are difficult and challenging to hear but I kep finding myself listening to him again and again.

-KTO